Good Things about Buffalo and Western New York

Compiled by

Bill Rapaport

Last Update: Tuesday, 1 September 2015

Note: or material is highlighted

My Two Favorite (Only Semi-Humorous) Reasons:
1. It's safe.
  - "No Place Is Safe [except Buffalo]: Natural Disaster Danger Zones", The New York Times (30 January 1994).
    - "Where to Live to Avoid a Natural Disaster", The New York Times (30 April 2011).
    - Breslin, Sean (2013), "Cities Safest From Natural Disasters 2013: Trulia Ranks the 10 Best Towns for Good Weather", The Weather Channel (6 September)
      - Buffalo is ranked #4
  1. And Amherst is safe, too.
    - "City Crime Rankings Once Again Names Amherst, New York, America's Safest City"
    - Edmonds, Rose, "Best Safe Towns in America (& Their Hidden Charms): 2. Amherst, New York" (Travel Channel)
2. It's worse elsewhere.
  - Tom Toles cartoon about living in Buffalo, The Buffalo News (5 June 1997).

But seriously, folks…
1. It's Beautiful.
  - Andrew Sprung, "Buffalo Dreamin’", Andrew Sullivan's The Daily Dish, The Atlantic (14 December 2009).
  - Amy Stewart, "Garden Walks a World Apart: Buffalo, N.Y.", SFGate, San Francisco Chronicle (15 August 2007).
2. Life is easy.
  - Donn Esmonde, "From Rat Race to Buffalo and Loving It", The Buffalo News (15 December 2003).
3. It's a great place to live…
  - According to the American Planning Association, the Elmwood Village is one of the nation's 10 great neighborhoods.
  - …In fact, it's underrated:
    - Notte, Jason (2011), "America's Five Most Underrated Cities", Yahoo! Real Estate (12 July).
      - In case you're curious, the other 4 underrated cities are Chicago, Pittsburgh, New Orleans, and Milwaukee; pretty good company, if you ask me!
  - …and according to—of all places—New York magazine, it might even be a better place to live than New York City!
    - Sternbergh, Adam (2008), "Where the Urban Dream Life Is Going Cheap", New York (August 24).
  - …especially in a recession (ranking 14/20 top places to live in a recession :-)
    - Gopal, Prashant (2008), "Some Cities Will Be Safer in a Recession", Business Week (14 October).
  - …and a great place to raise a family!
    - Levy, Francesca (2010), "America's Best Places To Raise A Family 2010: These 10 cities are safe, affordable and offer good educational prospects", Forbes.com
    - "America's Best Places to Raise a Family" (slide show), Forbes.com
  - …especially if you're a working mother:
    - Casserly, Meghan (2011), "The Best Cities for Working Mothers 2011", Forbes (11 October)
      - We're number one!
  - …and the most affordable!
    - Carlyne, Erin (2014), "America's Most Affordable Cities", Forbes (11 March).
      - We're number one!
    - Tina O (2014), "Study: Best Cities for College Grads 2014", CreditDonkey (13 May).
      - We're number one!
4. …a great place to move to…
  - Perman, Cindy (2010), "Best Cities to Move to in America", CNBC.com (26 October).
  - D'Arcangelo, Lyndsey (2014), "27 Things You Need To Know About Buffalo Before You Move There:
    OK, you already know about the snow. But did you also know that Buffalo is a hotbed for good food, amazing architecture, and one-of-a-kind festivals? I didn't think so." (February), Movoto.com
  - Miller, Claire Cain (2014), "Hello, Buffalo: Urban Migration of College Graduates Is Expanding", New York Times (20 October): A15.
5. …and a great place to visit.
  - Slayter, Mary Ellen (2003), "Shuffle No More", Washington Post (9 July): C02.
  - Dominick A. Miserandino, "Buffalo: More than just Buffalo Chicken Wings" ( TheCelebrityCafe.com)
  - There are lots of things to do outdoors.
  - Ireland, Barbara (2004), "36 Hours: Buffalo", New York Times "Escapes" section (August 13, 2004).
  - Karastamatis, John (2008), "Wingin' It in Buffalo", Toronto Star (10 January).
    - "After decades of decline, the rust-belt city—with its forgotten landmarks, funky restaurants and bohemian boutiques—has now become a hip destination for those in the know."
  - Jermanok, Steve (2012), "Surprising Buffalo", Active Travels (5 July).
  - Levine, Shira (2012), "Top US Revival Cities Worth Visiting", FoxNews.com (30 July).
  - Balkissoon, Denise (2013), "Road Trip A: Buffalo", Toronto Star/The Grid (20 July).
  - Kelly, Cathal (2013), "Let's Raise a Glass to Buffalo: A City of Great Hospitality; Jaded Toronto Star sport columnist is blown away by the generosity of Buffalonians", Toronto Star (14 December).
  - Byers, Jim (2014), "Shocked and Awed by the Rebirth of Buffalo" (30 April), The[ Toronto ]Star.com
  - Modery, Lauren (2014), "Move Over, Austin! Buffalo Is the New ‘It’ City", ThoughtCatalog.com (6 March).
  - Yolen-Cohen, Malerie (2014), "Buffalo, New York: 20 Surprising Reasons Culture Vultures and Foodies Should Visit Now", Huffington Post Travel (8 September 2014).
    - Yolen-Cohen likes Buffalo so much, she wrote about us twice!:
      Yolen-Cohen, Malerie (2014), "Buffalo NY Finally Gets It Wright", GetawayMavens.com (8 July).
  - Kaplan, Melanie D.G. (2014), "In Buffalo, N.Y., a New Vitality Is Giving the Once-Gritty City Wings", The Washington Post (24 July).
  1. And Niagara Falls is great, too:
6. There are a lot of things to love:
  - Norton, Kristin (2015), "27 Things People from Buffalo Love", MOVOTO Insider
7. The snow isn't nearly as bad as some folks would have you think.
  - Kiladze, Tim (2010), "America's Worst Winter Weather Cities", Forbes.com
    - Buffalo doesn't even make the list!
  - Chris Cappella, "10 Snowiest ‘Cities’ Aren't All in New York", US Today (2 October 2003).
  1. And, anyway, there are lots of good things to do during winter!
    (courtesy of Jan Chomicki)
    - "Winter Activities in Western New York"
8. Buffalo is the "city with a heart".
  - Cathy Lynn Grossman, "Lots and Lots of Heart in Buffalo", US Today (12 February 2001).
9. The food is wonderful…
  - Even if I do say so myself:
    Bill Rapaport's Buffalo Restaurant Guide
  - But I'm not alone:
    - Miserandino, Dominick A. (2003), "Buffalo: More than just Buffalo Chicken Wings"
    - McCart, Melissa (2013), "Dine: Wingin' It at Restaurants in Buffalo", Pittsburgh Post-Gazette (4 August).
    - Meier, Eric (2014), "New York State's Top 10 Food Cities Ranked", lite987.com (Marcy, NY; 7 July).
      - (We're #1!)
    - Buffalo was ranked third best food city worldwide by National Geographic (for our wings, of course).
      For details, link here. To see more, do the following:
      1. Look at text-page 78 (click on "Page 69" in the search result).
10. …and so is the water…
  - "Dear Yahoo!: What city has the cleanest drinking water?"
  - Syracuse Post-Standard Editorial Board (2012), "On the Waterfront: What Syracuse Can Learn from Buffalo's Resurgence", Syracuse.com (27 July).
11. …and so is the candy…
  - Stern, Jane and Michael (2014), "Welcome to Candy Land: A shuffle off to Buffalo reveals some of the finest confectioneries the Rust Belt has to offer", Saveur (19 February).
12. …the art is, too!
  - Kino, Carol (2012), "Renaissance in an Industrial Shadow", New York Times (6 May): AR18.
  - Buffalo is American Style magazine's No. 4 arts destination, behind New York City, Chicago, and Washington, DC.
13. …and it's got great festivals!
  - The Allentown Art Festival ranks No. 21 out of American Style magazine's top 25 fairs and festivals.
14. …and great architecture!
  - Ouroussoff, Nicolai (2008), "Saving Buffalo's Untold Beauty", Arts & Leisure, New York Times (November 16): AR1, AR30-AR31.
  - Kirkland, Kevin (2013), "Buffalo Is a Major Site for Frank Lloyd Wright Architecture", Pittsburgh Post-Gazette (4 August).
  - McKnight, Jenna M. (2013), "The Buffalo Boom", The Architect's Newspaper (6 August).
  - Buffalo was ranked by National Geographic as an all-American city because of our Frank Lloyd Wright buildings.
    For details, link here. To see more, do the following:
    
    Link to amazon.com's page for the book.
    Click on the book cover where it says "Look inside".
    Enter "Buffalo" in the search box on the left.
    Look at text-page 148 (click on "Page 139" in the search result).
15. It's not stressful.
  - "America's Most and Least Stressful Cities"
  - Some statistics
16. In fact, it's HOT.
  - Gertner, Jon (2004), "What Makes a Place Hot", Money (June): 87-92.
17. It's even a great place to write a dissertation!
  - Schoepflin, Todd (2004), "Place and Space", Chronicle of Higher Education (July 30): C1, C4.
18. …or to study for the bar exam!
  - Toobin, Jeffrey (2013), "Repeat Customer", The New Yorker (29 July): 22.
19. …or to find a sensitive man :-)
  - "Top Ten Cities to Find a Sensitive Man", chemistry.com (12 January 2012)
20. Housing is inexpensive!
  - Doyle, Rodger (2002), "Affording a Home: What Does It Take to Buy a Reasonably Priced House?", Scientific American (September): 32.
  - "Buffalo most affordable metro area, L.A. least affordable", AllBusiness.com (2005)
  - Cox, Jeff (2007), "Most Affordable Towns", Money on CNNMoney.com (16 July).
  - Green, Penelope (2013), "Small-Scale Developers, Big Dreams", New York Times (6 November).
21. And it's clean (the 3rd cleanest, in fact)!
  - "The 50 Cleanest (and Dirtiest) Cities in America", Reader's Digest
22. It's easy to get around!
  - Woolsey, Matt (2008), "Best And Worst Cities For Commuters", Forbes.com (25 April).
23. It's even one of the best 100 things about America! (well, sort of :-)
  - "100 Great Things About America", Fortune
    - Scroll down to #12, and be sure to link to #11 :-)
24. It's a great place to celebrate holidays:
  - "Best Cities to Celebrate St. Patrick's Day", Niche (2014).
25. And it's "back in business":
  - It's also the 19th "richest" city in the world, based on per-capita GDP (see second chart from bottom):
    Thompson, Derek (2012), "The 10 Fastest-Growing (and Fastest-Declining) Cities in the World", The Atlantic (19 January).
    (Thanks to [MBu] for this link!)
  - "Back in Business: Buffalo and Rochester—Hope Grows in Two Cities More Accustomed to Disappointment", The Economist (30 June 2012): 34.
  - Schneider, Keith (2013), "Once Just a Punch Line, Buffalo Fights Back", New York Times (30 July).

And for more like this, take a look at:
- "Recent Rankings and Awards for the Buffalo Niagara Region"